ExactRail threatening new models for N scale

[sirenwerks]

So ExactRail says on its website "N scale releases are coming but nothing to show just yet.  We are doing a little retooling on multiple cars that haven't been released in over 10 years but it will still be a few months before showing them."


The first sentence doesn't seem out of the ordinary but the second sentence is confusing.  Is ER talking about its own models being retooled, which feel like they're at least been unseen for ten years, or has it purchased another company's dies?

[James Costello]

Back at the Salt Lake City NMRA show in 2019, I spoke to Exactrail about the a re-run of their Gunderson 6033 boxcars. They indicated then they wanted to retool parts of the cars first - such as to upgrade the cars to body-mounted couplers - so I think that's what you're reading here.

The 6033's would seem to fit that 10 year timeframe and are virtually no-shows on ebay.

[wcfn100]

Based on the times I've talked with them, there could definitely be some N scale cars that they never released but have been fully or partially tooled that could be retooled to things like body mounted couplers.

I'm still waiting on the 60's era freight car they said I'd be happy to see.  There's been a least two new N scale releases since then. 


Jason

[Englewood]

I remember one of the first cars they released was the Trinity 5161 hoppers. I'd like to see those retooled and released. I bought a pack of their metal wheels a few months ago and am satisfied with them.  I wish them well and I hope to spend a lot of money with them in the coming year.

[central.vermont]

I'm still waiting on the 60's era freight car they said I'd be happy to see.  There's been a least two new N scale releases since then. 


Jason

I would love to see this as well!!!

[samusi01]

It'd be nice to see a run of their modern bulkhead flats again; they seem to be commanding ridiculous prices when they do pop up for sale.

[ednadolski]

... such as to upgrade the cars to body-mounted couplers ...

Whose couplers, I wonder....?

Ed

[mu26aeh]

I questioned their post on FB the other week when they made their announcements, asking if any of the cars pictured would be in N scale.  The short answer, NO.  But N scale is coming they say, just can't officially say what, when, where, why or how.  So really they had nothing to say about anything the way I see it.

[nkalanaga]

"But N scale is coming they say"

As Mom has always said to something like that: "So's Christmas".

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Exactrail won't tell you about a car unless it's in their warehouse. I like that business model. The updates they are talking about are metal wheels, body mounted couplers and better trucks for their older models. Their early boxcars and almost all their hoppers could use this. I would love to see more Trinity 5161 hoppers.

[High Hood]

Hopefully they’ll fix the issue on the Autoflood II where the wheelsets can rub up against the coupler box, although replacing the wheels with ESM wheels the fix the problem. I’d love to see a run with SCSX and CEFX schemes offered.

SCSX: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3572516
CEFX: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3496041

[RockGp40]

I remember one of the first cars they released was the Trinity 5161 hoppers. I'd like to see those retooled and released.

If they are tooling new covered hoppers, and I hope they are, the Trinity 6351 would be great to pair with the 5161s. The 5161 tooling could also be used for the 5461 covered hoppers. I couldn't throw enough money at them if all three were (re)released.

A boy can dream.

[Mark5]

I'm still waiting on the 60's era freight car they said I'd be happy to see. 

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[cv_acr]

So ExactRail says on its website "N scale releases are coming but nothing to show just yet.  We are doing a little retooling on multiple cars that haven't been released in over 10 years but it will still be a few months before showing them."


The first sentence doesn't seem out of the ordinary but the second sentence is confusing.  Is ER talking about its own models being retooled, which feel like they're at least been unseen for ten years, or has it purchased another company's dies?

If I understand some of the conversation and buzz about ExactRail over the years, they're basically sitting on a bit of a stockpile of (pre-production) tooling created by one of their original founders. Obviously there's no way they could produce all of it at once, and some of it has required some re-work to actually make it production ready.

There are also some models they ran years ago that haven't had any re-runs, so could maybe include some of that too...  e.g. They made a Canadian Pacific 65' 'signature series" HO gondola many many years ago that only ever had the one run, and might be prime for a new run again sometime. (It's basically a one-road, one-paint-scheme model, so can't really re-run it TOO often....)

[basementcalling]

Talk is cheaper than cutting molds, or even modifying old ones.